Brandt Snedeker zooms — really zooms — to top of AT&T leaderboard

Brandt Snedeker arrived on the Monterey Peninsula on a distinctive if unsatisfying roll.

He tied for second two weeks ago at the PGA Tour event in San Diego – behind only Tiger Woods. Snedeker finished second again last week in Scottsdale, Ariz. – behind Phil Mickelson.

Good thing Jack Nicklaus isn’t in the field this week.

Brandt Snedeker hopes to end his run of 2nd-place finishes at Pebble Beach.

Snedeker, undeterred, keeps planting himself in contention. He will enter the weekend tied for the lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, after cruising around rugged Spyglass Hill for a bogey-free 68 on Friday. That left Snedeker at 8-under-par for the tournament, tied with Ted Potter Jr.

Hunter Mahan highlights the quartet at 7-under, with Jason Day and Cal alum James Hahn among the players lurking at 6-under.

Snedeker probably finds some solace in seeing Mickelson back in the pack, at 2-under. Consider some numbers from Arizona: Snedeker blazed around TPC Scottsdale in 24-under-par, with no round worse than 66. That score would have won the tournament in each of the previous 11 years.

Not this time. Not with Mickelson posting 28-under.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen, but I would love for Phil to not show up one year,” Snedeker said.

If those pesky all-time greats would just get out of the way, more fans might appreciate Snedeker. He’s one of the most likeable players on tour, partly because of his willingness to show emotion – smiling most of the time, crying when he squandered a tantalizing chance to win the 2008 Masters – and partly because of his uncommonly swift pace.

He’s really good, too. Snedeker won two tournaments last year, including the Tour Championship, and also won the season points title. He seems to surface on the leaderboard nearly every week, which is good for his bank account – almost $5 million in earnings last year, already close to $1.7 million this year.

Now he just needs to secure his inaugural win of the New Year. His odds are improving, in some ways, with Woods at home in Florida and Mickelson not zooming out of the gate as he did last week (60-65).

“If I play this weekend the same way I did the past two,” Snedeker said, “then I’m going to have a lot of fun.”

In honor of Snedeker, we will try to keep this column moving along. No need for excessive contemplation. No reason to fret about the choice of adjectives or search for the perfect adverb.

Just type and move to the next sentence – exactly the way Snedeker hits one shot and walks briskly to the next.

“I try not to think about it too much,” he said. “The more I think, typically, the worse things happen. I try to keep it pretty simple. Get over the ball, have a good thought and go for it.”

Now if only more tour pros played this way.

Snedeker offered an example of his customary pace on No. 7 at Spyglass, his 16th hole of Friday’s round. His tee shot drifted a few feet into the right rough. Snedeker arrived at his ball, quickly surveyed the situation, pulled one club, briefly reconsidered, pulled another club, stepped over the ball and hit it.

One spectator, standing nearby, turned to his buddy and said, “He doesn’t waste any time.”

Snedeker repeated the no-nonsense routine with his third shot, a gorgeous wedge to 3 feet. Same with his birdie putt, which obediently disappeared into the hole. Same on the next hole, when he made another birdie – with another gorgeous approach shot – to climb into a tie for the lead.

“I obviously think we need to do a better job,” Snedeker said, referring to the longtime problem of slow play on tour. “It’s not fun for fans to watch a five-hour round and it’s not fun for us to play a five-hour round. It’s not good for golf.

“I would love to see us play in four hours out here. I don’t see it happening – not at this tournament – but it would be nice.”

Snedeker has an advantage on several other contenders, with Spyglass already off his plate. Potter, for instance, still must play there Saturday – while Snedeker moves on to Pebble Beach, historically the easiest of the AT&T’s three courses (especially with mostly calm conditions in the forecast).

He brings some encouraging history at Pebble, given his strong showing in the 2010 U.S. Open (tie for eighth). Snedeker also understands he doesn’t need to accumulate a bucketload of birdies, unlike last week.